Phil Woolas: I am pleased to announce details of the allocation of grant to be awarded to authorities under the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive scheme (LABGI) for 2006-07; the second year of a three-year initiative. LABGI is an incentive scheme that aims to encourage local authorities to increase business growth in their areas. The scheme generates a greater opportunity for local government and business to work together to deliver economic success and prosperity to their local community. The scheme is set to run for three years (2005-06 to 2007-08) and will allocate up to £1 billion to eligible local authorities in England and Wales. The money is genuinely additional and unringfenced for authorities to spend on their needs as they see fit.
	Last year £126 million was paid to 278 eligible local authorities. This year I expect a total of £316 million to be shared between 328 local authorities, more than two and a half times the amount of unringfenced grant as last year and to 50 more authorities across the country who have boosted businesses in their areas. We expect £1 billion to be spent on LABGI over the three years of the scheme.
	In September 2006 the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Ruth Kelly) and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey) announced plans to remove the scaling factor and ceiling in LABGI to make the scheme simpler and more rewarding for local authorities. However, due to the Judicial Reviews brought by Corby and Slough Borough Councils, we have had to retain the scaling factor for Year 2 payments to protect the important incentive this scheme creates for authorities in this year and next year. We remain committed to the principle of removing the scaling factor but because of these authorities we cannot rule out retaining it to deal with the conclusions of the Judicial Reviews.
	Qualifying local authorities are being advised today on the level of grant they can expect to receive from a total allocation of £316 million. These payments will be made on 26 March, later than planned due to the added complication to the calculation methodology required to address this threat of litigation from Corby and Slough borough councils. John Healey and I are also writing separately to those members of the House whose constituent local authorities have qualified for LABGI grant. Detailed allocations are attached and being placed in the House Libraries.
	We are considering the future of LABGI as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.

Harriet Harman: I am publishing two reports today. Firstly, a summary report of responses received as part of the consultation on the draft Coroner's Bill and the action the Government intends to take as a result. Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. It will also be made available on the Department for Constitutional Affairs website.
	In the Bill we aim to do three things. Firstly we will improve the way that the system serves the public interest and meet bereaved families' concerns. The Bill will give families involved in the inquest process a clear legal standing in the system. For the first time, they will have rights through a new appeals system, enabling them to challenge a coroner's decision, and a Charter for Bereaved People will set out the level of service in relation to information and consultation they can expect more generally. Secondly we will strengthen coroners' work. The Bill will establish a transparent appointments system for a new cadre of whole-time coroners, who will have to be legally qualified, and will provide them with improved powers of investigation and local medical support. Thirdly, we will create a national structure for coroners' work. For the first time there will be a Chief Coroner, supported by a Chief Medical Advisor, who will provide national leadership for coroners, as the Lord Chief Justice does for judges. This will be supported by national standards, a coronial advisory council, a proper inspection system and national training for coroners and their officers.
	Over 150 organisations and individuals responded to the consultation, with further feedback received from regional conferences for those involved in delivering or funding the service, such as coroners, their staff, police and local authorities, and from a number of meetings held with voluntary sector organisations.
	As well as support for many of the proposals, such as creating a Chief Coroner and having a new appeals system for bereaved families, the responses have offered constructive additional suggestions for refining the proposals or for improving the service more generally. For example, as I announced on 30 January, coroners will be given stronger powers to enhance their lesser known public protection role. Bereaved families often express the wish that something positive might come out of a coroner's inquiry, and want relevant agencies to take preventative action so that the death of their family member is not in vain. For the first time, a legal obligation will be placed on organisations to respond to coroners' recommendations saying what stepsthey will take to prevent future deaths. Additionally, the Lord Chancellor will report to Parliament on the recommendations made to the Chief Coroner and the responses received.
	Other changes we have made include being clearer about the circumstances in which deaths of our citizens abroad should be investigated. To support this, coroners will be given greater powers to secure information from overseas authorities.
	The criteria for the types of case that require a jury inquest will remain as at present. Inquests into deaths at work will therefore remain one of those for which a jury is summoned.
	We have identified other policy areas where we will consult further before a Bill is brought before Parliament, for example, the exceptional circumstances when coroners may have powers to impose restrictions on the reporting of the names of parties to inquests, new coroner area boundaries, the sharing of information between coroners and other authorities, disclosure of material to bereaved people, and improved support for families at inquests.
	The second report is a summary of the public pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill which took place on 9 November. The discussion provided an opportunity to hear what bereaved relatives with recent experience of the coroner service thought of the changes proposed in the draft Bill. A key aim of the Bill is to ensure that the system serves bereaved relatives better. The objective of the public scrutiny was to satisfy ourselves that the proposals in the Bill will indeed achieve that objective. The findings of the panel will enable us to have a fully informed debate when a Bill is introduced, and emerge with better final plans as a result.